Thirteen Nigerian entrepreneurs and a South African  have been shortlisted  as finalists to compete for the 20,000 dollars grand prize of the  Boma Prize for Africa; a platform that supports innovative SMEs across Africa.

The 14 finalists were selected from those who made it to the semi-finale at an unveiling ceremony on Thursday in Abuja.

The 14 entrepreneurs were given prizes of 300,000 naira each for making it through the semi-final stage of the competition.

Brand Manager BPFA, Faith Adeyanju, said on the sidelines of the event that three entrepreneurs would be selected and unveiled as final winners at the grand finale slated to hold in Ghana in November.

According to her, the overall winner will go home with 10,000 dollars, while the first and second runners-up will receive 7,000 dollars and 3,000 dollars respectively.

Miss Adeyanju said the BPFA was an initiative to support African entrepreneurs, innovators, young people who have ideas, but do not have the funding opportunities.

According to her, it provides a platform for small business owners, startups and young entrepreneurs to bring their dreams to fruition and contribute to the socio-economic development of the continent.

“We started this initiative about two years ago and we discovered that a lot of people need our services; they have an idea, want to do business, but do not have the money to start up. This initiative started as a gradual process with us supporting small scale enterprises on social media but then our boss realized we could do better,” she said.

Founder of African Rhapsody and one of the finalists, Ifekoya Funmilayo, commended the organisers for the initiative, adding that “it felt rewarding to be among those chosen to go to the finals.

She said, “You know, as they say, the reward for results is hard work, and means that there is some level of recognition involved. We need to also put some more work into our brands and to take the brands to the global stage. The feedback from the judges also is important in terms of how we now put back the feedback into our brands.”

(NAN)